Interviews compiled by Lauren Raziano, Social Media Editor
After last year’s limited Halloween festivities, students were excited to showcase their very intricate and unique costumes around campus. While some students wore costumes that expressed their humor and wittiness, others chose to be the standout character in their group costume. Read about how Payton Hayes, Ethan Thompson, Isabel Cameron and Brenna McNamara got crafty with creating logos and donning elaborate accessories to enhance their Halloween outfits.
Payton Hayes ‘24
Mechanical Engineering
Featured Costume: Medusa
The Quadrangle: How did you decide what costume to wear this year?
Payton Hayes: A little bit of TikTok and I saw it last year on Instagram a lot. So I was like next year I’m going to do that one.
TQ: Did you craft or make any cool unique items to compliment your costume? Makeup?
PH: I made the headpiece for Medusa. So, I also saw it on TikTok but it magically appeared on there as the first one so it was meant to be. I ordered all the pieces from Amazon, I ordered a basic plastic hairband and zip ties and tied them to the headband and then spray painted that gold. I got a bunch of rubber snakes from Amazon as well and spray painted those gold as well. And then I used hot glue and glued them on and it worked.
TQ: How many costumes did you plan out for Halloween weekend?
PH: I planned three. I planned the Medusa one, then Lava Girl to be Sharkboy and Lava Girl with my boyfriend, and then Catwoman to be Batman and Catwoman with my boyfriend as well.
TQ: What do you think is an important decision when choosing a costume?
PH: If you’re gonna do something extravagant, make sure you have enough time. If you’re choosing your costume at the last minute, because mine was kind of last minute, make sure you have a clothing item that you’re wearing from in your closet because that’s probably one of the hardest things to get.
TQ: What is your favorite costume you ever wore?
PH: Definitely the Medusa one!
TQ: If you could wear only one costume for the rest of your life, What would you wear and why?
PH: Probably the most comfortable one I wore, the Catwoman one. When I wore it, it was pretty comfortable because it was just a black jumpsuit and if I had to wear that for the rest of my life I always wear black anyway.
TQ: Do you remember the first Halloween movie you watched? Horror movie?
PH: “Halloweentown,” and I don’t watch horror movies. I’ve never seen one, I don’t watch them.
Ethan Thompson ‘22
Finance
Featured Costume: Yoshi, which he was wearing when he won a costume contest at Fenwicks that came with a cash prize.
The Quadrangle: How did you decide what costume to wear this year?
Ethan Thompson: Honestly, it was like every year, I waited until the last week and did a trip down to Party City. Basically I was with my friends and I saw this Yoshi costume on the clearance rack at Party City and then we just decided to be Mario, Luigi and Yoshi together. The costume ended up paying for themself since the prize money was worth more than what I paid for it.
TQ: Did you craft or make any cool unique items to compliment your costume? Makeup?
ET: For my friends, they made their own Mario and Luigi hats and my friend painted ‘M’ & ‘L’ onto the caps and their overalls. For me, it was mostly just a set. It came with a turtle on the back for like a little backpack but for the most part, mine was store bought, but theirs were mostly homemade since it was pretty last minute.
TQ: What do you think is an important decision when choosing a costume?
ET: For Halloween, especially if you’re just going to be with your friends, one good thing is to honestly not care about what other people think about you because at the end of the day it is your personality coming out for Halloween. When I first bought that Yoshi costume, they all thought it was funny but my roommate’s girlfriend said ‘Yeah, that’s so you.’ So honestly, when I pick out costumes for Halloween, I think about what I’ve done in the past. I was a hibachi chef, I was a chicken — it’s important to not really care what people think about you.
TQ: What is your favorite costume you ever wore?
ET: This year’s costume was definitely up there because it was the most memorable, senior year, won Fen’s Costume contest, having everyone chanting ‘Yoshi.’ One that I personally found funny, was when I was a Hibachi Chef one year and I’m 50% Asian so it’s costumes like that that are pretty memorable. Most use I think I’ve gotten was the chicken costume and I’ve worn it multiple times throughout the years. I was actually a Rubik’s cube as well when I was younger.
TQ: If you could wear only one costume for the rest of your life, What would you wear and why?
ET: That’s a good question. I like to mix it up. I really liked being a chicken. I really did. I don’t know. I think that’s something that I’ve worn multiple times too. So honestly, that one I would wear.
TQ: Do you remember the first horror movie you watched?
ET: I’m not a big horror movie guy … I think the first horror movie I watched was the first “Annabelle” movie when my cousins took me to go see it in eighth grade.
TQ: What is the best Halloween candy?
ET: I would go either Three Musketeers or watermelon Sour Patch.
TQ: What was your COVID-safe halloween plan for this year?
ET: We mostly just kept within the student population since we are all vaccinated. We didn’t really go outside of Manhattan College.
Brenna McNamara ‘23
Marketing & Global Studies major
Featured Costume: Pitbull
Pictured here with Isabel Cameron as Mr. Clean
The Quadrangle: How did you decide what costume to wear this year?
Brenna McNamara: We had been deciding between a few different group costumes and it was only going to be me, Isabel and then one of our other friends going to an apartment party. And so Isabel was just joking around just like we should all be bald men and I was like, ‘If we do all that I’ll be Pitbull’ and we ended up doing it.
TQ: Did you craft or make any cool unique items to compliment your costume? Makeup?
BN: There was only one bald cap left at Party City and it was a white one. So the discoloration was not very good and so I used a whole bottle of foundation, covering that up.
TQ: How many costumes did you plan out for Halloween weekend?
BN: This year we only really went out [to] two places so I only had two different costumes. Friday night I was Jedediah from “Night at the Museum” and then that Saturday night I was Pitbull so both of them were group costumes.
TQ: If you could wear only one costume for the rest of your life, What would you wear and why?
BN: If I had to pick one, it would probably be a classic cheerleader because I can’t even imagine how many times I was a cheerleader as a kid.
TQ: Do you remember the first horror movie you watched?
BN: Oh, I hate horror movies, but I believe the first one I ever watched was “The Roommate” and I scared myself to death.
TQ: What is the best Halloween candy?
BN: KitKat [bars]. Hands down.
Isabel Cameron ‘23
Psychology
Featured Costume: Mr. Clean
The Quadrangle: How did you decide what costume to wear this year?
Isabel Cameron: I was talking with my friends about what would be funny to wear and my friend Brenna mentioned that she saw bald caps at Party City and I was like, ‘oh my god, we should be bald guys.’ So I picked Mr. Clean and my friend Brenna picked Pitbull.
TQ: Did you craft or make any cool unique items to compliment your costume? Makeup?
IC: I made a spray bottle and I printed out the Mr. Clean logo and I put my drink in it so I could spray it out. It was a good gag.
TQ: How many costumes did you plan out for Halloween weekend?
IC: Two. I’m in Scatterbomb, the comedy improv group, and we did a group costume. So I was Peppermint Patty for that. But the Mr. Clean one was my main costume because I didn’t really do much on Friday night other than the show.
TQ: If you could wear only one costume for the rest of your life, What would you wear and why?
IC: Probably a ‘70s hippie because that’s probably as close to my normal style as I could get and it’s funky and fun. I like bright colors and it’s not too out there for every day of my life.
TQ: Do you remember the first horror movie you watched?
IC: I don’t remember the first, but the first movie I remember that gave me terrible nightmares. My family and I do a family movie night on the weekends whenever we’re all home and we watched the 1970s “Pet Cemetery,” the really old one that was super cheesy, and it terrified me. I had to have a nightlight for months after that.
TQ: What is the best Halloween candy?
IC: Probably Reese’s. Nice, classic, peanut butter ones.
TQ: What was your COVID-safe halloween plan for this year?
IC: On Saturday, I went to my friend’s apartment. She was having a party and everyone was required to be vaccinated to be there. Everyone brought a mask but like some people wear them, most people didn’t because everyone was already vaccinated. We were aware of it but it wasn’t like center stage, you know, not like last year.